【英语王国】英美概况考点（上）
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7. The British Commonwealth:
A of 53 independent sovereign states, most of them are
(Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Dominica, Bangladesh, India, Ghana, Kenya)
8. —the largest, most populous, and the wealthiest division of the United Kingdom
（London—the Pennies —backbone of England—are the principal mountain chain. The highest peak of England, ）
(19世纪重新流行、一年一度的)威尔士诗人、音乐家大会) (1770-1850), British poet, credited with ushering in with the publication of (1798) in collaboration with Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
9. AWhy:
(1) The Atlantic Ocean has a significant effect on Britain’s climate. The British Isles have a mild climate throughout the year. This is due to , a current of warm water that flows up from the Caribbean past Britain.
(2) moving across this warmer water bring moisture and moderating temperatures to the British Isles.
(3) in summer than other areas at the same latitude. Great Britain’s western coast tends to be warmer than the eastern coast, and the southern regions tend to be warmer than the northern regions.
10. England—London
Scotland—Edinburgh(Glasgow is the largest city)
Wales—Cardiff
Northern Island—Belfast
11. Nevertheless, it retains a unique cultural, social, and economic development,
notably (a typical example of sth) its national language, Assembly.
12. 课本上可能考到的句子：
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Due to its adjacency to England, Wales has been dominated by England for longer period of time than the other nations of the UK—officially, since its union with England in 1536.
The highland zone (north and west): Scotland, Wales and part of England. The low land zone(south and east): Most of England
13.is an comprising the City of London and 32 London boroughs, of which twelve are Inner London boroughs and twenty are Outer London boroughs.
14.who were skilled metal workers. They built villages and hill forts, and used iron weapons and tools.
The earliest people known in Britain were 游牧族) from mainland Europe in the old Stone Age, followed by Iberians in the Bronze Age.
Romans.They brought in two languages that became the later
15. (Awho, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defense of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early sixth century.)
– 899)
--- King of Wessex from871 to 899 (Wessex was the kingdom of the West Saxons.) --- Noted for his defense of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England against the Vikings.
--- A learned man who encouraged education and improved his kingdom's legal system and military structure.
William I）The Normans built impressive castles and imposed a feudal system.
16. majority of the citizens spoken monolingually by roughly 95% of the UK population. The use of language in the UK has a strong association with In 1993 the British government made
/?k?kn?/ (cockneys)
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N-COUNTA cockney is a person who was born in the East End of London. 伦敦东区人 [oftN n]
例：...a Cockney cab driver....一个开出租车的伦敦东区人。
N-UNCOUNT 区方言和口音
例：The man spoke with a Cockney accent.
这个男人讲话带着伦敦东区口音。
18. There are three social classes in Britain: （名流，贵族）and traditionally the wealthiest in the land with inherited money and position. The majority of aristocratic families originated in , and was ennobled between the 14th and 19th century.
:
Upper – middle class
Middle class
Skilled working class
Semi-skilled and unskilled working class
Underclass (the long-term unemployed, and elderly pensioners, economic
immigrants, dependent on state benefits
19. The British Identity?
“Britishness”since the 1707 union between England/Wales and Scotland has been largely identified with representative and centralized state institutions, such as monarchy, Parliament, law and Protestant churches, and their values.
However, with Britain’s decline in modern times, the old concepts of
Regardless of nationality, ethnic background, religion, language, area, sex or age, citizens in the United Kingdom still share an identification with“Britishness”.
These features suggest that 4
Irish person who conforms to all or even some of their assumed national stereotypes as it is to find a typical Briton.
20. There are two parties in power in Britain today:
and the In the 2010General Election, no party won an overall majority of seats. , formed a new government, in coalition with the Liberal Democrats.
At present, the Prime Minister is Conservative Party and Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats is his deputy.
21. 几个名词解释
①A Constitutional Monarchy
The head of state is or ②Devolution
The statutory granting of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to government at a lower level, such as a regional, local or state level.
③Constituency/Constituent
A constituency is usually a geographical area that sends one (or more) members to the national parliament.
④Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace was built in 1702 by the as his London home. The house was then later sold to George III in 1761 by the Duke's son. In1774 it was renamed "" as Queen Charlotte resided there.
in 1837.
Today Buckingham Palace is used not only as the of The Queen and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, but also for monarch. It is here in the state apartments that Her Majesty receives and entertains guests invited to the Palace.
⑤Royal Standard of the United Kingdom
Until 1997 of mourning, the Royal Standard would not fly at half mast, unless the deceased Monarch was resting in the residence, and the present Monarch was not.
When controversy arose regarding the lack of a flag at half-mast over
Buckingham Palace following the death of, a compromise was reached
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assume jurisdiction for all civil law cases in the UK and all criminal cases in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.)
How to become a member of the House of Lords?
Two events have changed the way Members of the House of Lords are appointed: the 1999 House of Lords Act, which ended hereditary Peers' right to pass
membership down through family, and the introduction of the House of Lords Appointments Commission.
House of Lords Appointment Commission
Set up in May 2000, thisnon-political
Lords appointments to the Queen and checks the suitability of all nominations to the House, including those made by political parties.
Resignation Honors
Resigning advisors or others who have supported them.
Archbishops and bishops
The number of bishops in the House has been limited to 26. If a vacancy comes up，The Archbishops of Canterbury and York usually get life peerages on retirement. Speakers
Traditionally, peer ages are awarded to former
’ time, and Members are involved throughout the process of proposing, revising and a mending legislation.
(Lords check the work of the Government by
questioning and debating decisions made by ministers and government departments.)
Number:650
Qualifications: People wishing to stand as an MP must be overyears of age, and a British citizen, or citizen of a Commonwealth
country or the Republic of Ireland.
Election: General election and by-election
Laws are made in Britain through three procedures: 8
25. 政治部分：Prime Minister
The leader of the TheResponsible for Make nominations to senior positions in the, nominate and propose the creation of new
The Cabinet
英国外交大臣) represents Britain at an international meeting. 英国财政大臣) decides how much taxpeople should pay on their income.
英国内政大臣) announces reforms in the legal system.
Other important secretaries of State are:
The Lord Chancellor (the legal system) 上议院大法官
The Secretary of State for Education
The Secretary of State for Transport and the Environment
The Cabinet adopts.
The Privy Council 英国枢密院
The Privy Council comprises all Function:
Advise the monarch
Arrange for the formal handling of documents
for certain nations in the Commonwealth, some church-related appeals, and for disciplinary committees of some professions
Conclusion: 3 powers in the central government
(1) TheExecutive(2)The Legislature(3) TheJudiciary (discussed in later chapter)
25. 政治部分： 9
（选举制度）以得票最多（但不一定超过半数）在选举中获胜voting is a generic term referring to an election determined by the highest polling candidate(s). In UK it means that within each constituency a single vote is cast for one candidate and the candidate who wins the highest number of votes becomes the elected MP.
26. Features of British Judicial system
The UK does —England and Wales have one system, Scotland another and Northern Ireland a third.
The BritishThe Rule of Law is bound by the law.
All persons are before the law.
Law and order must be maintained through the officials and institutions of the state.
Legal redress (or compensation) is provided for citizens with .
The law and legal process and personnel should be interference.
The principle sources of British law
① unwritten or common law 习惯法（customs and precedents）
② statutes 成文法
*formal written laws passed by the Westminster or Scottish Parliaments;
*the ultimate source of British law
*supreme over most other forms of laws
③ European Union Law 欧盟法
The UK is a Member State of the European Union (EU), which means that EU law takes precedence over UK law.
The European Convention on Human Rights—As a Member State of the Council of Europe, the UK is a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The Human Rights Act 1998, which came into effect in October 2000, enables all the courts in the UK to protect the rights identified in the ECHR.
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The Legal Profession
① Lord Chancellor : a member of the Cabinet and, by law, responsible for the efficient functioning and independents of the .(used to be the presiding officer of , and the head of the Wales, but the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 transferred these roles to ② Solicitor: legal advisors
---advise and represent clients
---draw up wills, contracts
---responsible for all the preparatory pre-court work
---have rights of audience in lower courts and in uncontested cases in the high court. ③Barrister(Scotland)
The Court System
The principal court system is divided into and according to the nature of crimes.
,and for the first time in its history, the United Kingdom has a or 简易法庭,is the lowest level of court in
The Criminal Proceedings 刑事诉讼
“A person is innocent until proven guilty.”
Rights of a detained person: “If you are asked questions about a suspected offense, you don’t have to say anything unless you wish to do so, but what you say may be given in evidence.”
Tribunal 特别法庭
Amore informal and less expensive alternative to civil and criminal courts is a tribunal, which handles minor cases Tribunals are made up of and are regulated by the law. They settle disputes between private citizens, grievances between employers and employees.
The Judiciary
There was no lies with
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Police
：Nickname for , a derivation of Robert, the first name of the founder of the modern police force, Sir Robert Peel, the Home Secretary who established the Metropolitan Police Force in London in 1828
The headquarters of Metropolitan Police Force which is under the direct control of the Home Secretary
Treatment of offenders
Treatment of offenders:
Community service 社区服务性服役
fine罚款
bail保释
probation or suspended sentence 缓刑
life imprisonment (only applicable to defendants aged 21 or over)终身监禁 capital punishment 死刑
27. Religion in Britain 英国宗教
The main religion in Britain is Most Christians belong to. These are There are also many Roman Catholics.
Non-Christian religions in Britain are the largest
Three denominations of Christianity:is the denomination with over one billion adherents. People in many western European countries belong to the Roman Catholic Church. The head is the Pope, who lives in Vatican City, which is an independent state under the absolute authority of the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church.
was first introduced into Britain by in 597 AD. From the 7th century until the16th, the only accepted church in England was the Roman Catholic Church.
A 16th-centurymovement in Western Europe that aimed at reforming some doctrines and practices in the establishment of
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Free Churches (Methodists, Baptists, etc.)
The Church of England
*The Sovereign must be a member of
*Archbishops, bishops of the Church of England and deans of cathedrals are appointed by the .
*The Church of England is linked with the State through in which the two archbishops of Canterbury and York, the bishops of London, Durham and Winchester, and 21 other senior bishops have seats.
The church of Scotland
An official national church since 1707. Presbyterian Protestantism --- the church is governed by church)
The Roman Catholic Church in UK
1. Discrimination against the Roman Catholicism since the creation ofUKin1707 ---- a Protestant succession to the British Throne.
2. and in the numbers of Catholics in England, Wales and Scotland.
3. The
Bloody Mary (1556-1558)
Mary is remembered for her the short-lived Protestant reign of her half-brother, Edward VI. During her reign, she had over 280 religious dissenters burned. Her Protestant opponents gave her the sobriquet of "". Her re-establishment of Roman Catholicism was reversed after her death in 1558 by her successor and younger half-sister, Elizabeth I.
Non-Christian Churches in UK
1. UK is a 2. UK has the 2nd largest Secularism in UK
Secularism is the concept that government or other entities should exist separately from religion and/or religious beliefs
28. British way of life
Main Types of Houses in England：
? Detached
? Semi-detached
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? Terraced house
? Flats (apartments)
England's Traditional Sunday lunch：
Drink in Britain：
Tea coffee wine bitter
（If someone says 'let me be mother' or 'shall I be mother', they are offering to pour out the tea from the teapot.）
Customs and Habits：
DOS and DON'TS (Taboos)in England：
? Stand in line.
? Take your hat off when you go indoors (men only).
? Cover your Mouth
? Shake Hands When you are first introduced to someone.
? Drive on the left side of the road.
Table Manners:
? Never lick or put your knife in your mouth.
? It is impolite to start eating before everyone has been served unless your host says that you don't need to wait.
? Never chew with your mouth open.
Superstitions in Britain:
Lucky
and you will have good luck. Every leaf means a lucky month next year.
Unlucky
Unlucky to walk underneath a ladder
Seven years bad luck to break a mirror
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Unlucky to spill salt. If you do, you must throw it over your shoulder to counteract the bad luck.
Unlucky to open an umbrella in doors
The numberUnlucky to One must remember not to give an umbrella as a gift or place it on the top of a table or on top of a bed. One should also try to avoid dropping it on the floor --- all this would bring bad luck.
Wedding Superstitions:
? Bride and groom must not meet on the day of the wedding except at the altar.
? The bride should never wear her complete wedding clothes before the day.
? For good luck the bride should wear “something borrowed, something blue, something old and something new”.
? The husband should carry his new wife over the threshold of their home.
Sports in Britain:
UK has given birth to a range of major international sports including:
苏格兰的冰上掷石游戏 . The world's most famous tennis tournament is Festivals and Public Holidays in Britain:
--- the Crucifixion of Jesus
---- the descent of the Holy spirit to Christ’s apostles, the 7th Sunday after Easter
(1st Monday in May)
The United States of America
一．美国地理：
1. The 4th largest nation in size ( 9, 363,123 sq km )
The 3rd largest in population(over 311 million)
2. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean.
The capital city, Washington, District of Columbia, is a federal district located on land donated by the state of Maryland.
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The United States also has overseas territories with varying levels of independence and organization.
3. The United States shares land borders with Canada (to the north) and Mexico (to the south).
The contiguous forty-eight states are bounded by the Pacific Ocean on the west, the Atlantic Ocean on the east, and the Gulf of Mexico to the southeast.
Alaska borders the Pacific Ocean to the south, the Bering Strait to the west, and the Arctic Ocean to the north, while Hawaii lies far to the southwest of the mainland in the Pacific Ocean.
4. 国旗：white --- red -----
blue ----- 5. 地里之最：
highest point: lowest point: , California, 282 feet below sea level(-86 m)
6. 山脉：
the Appalachian Mountains阿巴拉契亚山脉
the Rocky Mountains 落基山脉
7. 河流：
The Mississippi
The Missouri
(St. Louis - “the Gateway to the West”)
On the Pacific side there are 2 great rivers: the south and , which rises in Canada. In the dry western country, both rivers are vital sources of life.
the national capital of8. 地势地貌：
Hills and low mountains in east;
Vast central plain;
Mountains in west;
Rugged mountains and broad river valleys in Alaska;
Rugged, volcanic topography in Hawaii
9. 地里分区：
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二．美国人口：
1. The US is called “
2. The US is a very suburbs (the worldwide urban rate was 49%).
The population center of US has consistently shifted westward and southward, with in2011) and in 2011) currently the most populous states.
3. 人口构成：
Native Americans
Native American’s before Columbus’ Discovery of the New World
Native Americans after European explorations
From the 16th through the 19th centuries, the population of Native Americans in the following ways: brought from Europe; their lands.
Native Americans rank at the bottom of nearly every social statistic.
Europeans
---simply “
---They constitute of the US population with 75.05% of the population. --- are regarded as the socially and demographically dominant racial group in US.
--- The mainstream culture of the US is chiefly WASP（White Anglo-Saxon Protestant） in character.
African Americans
??In the early 1600s --- indentured servants rather than permanent slaves. ??In the late 1600s, hereditary slavery became the rule and blacks were degraded to the status of property.
??By the 1800s, the southern states had stopped the slave trade--- nearly a million slaves on the plantations of the South.
??The ??
Latinos/Hispanics
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Three major groups in the American Latino population --- American residents from
Asian Americans
Yellow peril
Model Minority
Chinese Immigrants in US
1. Large-scale immigration began in the mid 1800's due to the2. Because of laws such as the Chinese Exclusion Act排华法案, the highly imbalanced male to female ratio, and the thousands of immigrants returning back to China, the Chinese population in the U.S. fell dramatically .
4. 美国因何吸引移民：
三． 美国政治
1. 历史起源：
(1607, named after James I, in the state of Virginia)
(1620)
The stamp tax 印花税
美国建国日：1776年7月4号
The First Continental Congress
In September ,t was held in which encouraged Americans to refuse to buy British goods. Colonial militia units were organized.
The Revolution of Independence
On April 19, 1775, about 1,000 British soldiers were sent from Boston to seize the military supplies of the militia stored in Concord. When the British soldiers arrived at Lexington they were met by several dozen armed militiamen. Suddenly a shot was fired and then others followed. And （between and and concluded in a global war between several European great powers.
）
The Second Continental Congress
In May, 1775, the Second Continental Congress was held in. The Congress founded a Continental Army and Navy under the command of formal declaration.
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A republic government is one in which . In the case of US, the people vote for members to the House of Representatives and for members of the Senate.
Federalism
Each layer of government has separate and distinct powers laid down in the Constitution.
National Supremacy
Federalism creates a working partnership between the 2 levels of government. However, when a dispute arises between them, there is no doubt where the final authority lies. The Constitution is the “supreme law of the land”.Only national courts can settle the dispute.
二．几个名词解释：
Separation of Powers + Checks and Balance
It means each branch of government scrutinize and restrain the other branches so as to prevent the other branches from ignoring or overpowering the others.
Provisions for Amendments
The drafters of the Constitution devised a 2-way process by which the Constitution could be changed.may initiate an amendment. Or ask Congress to call a national convention to discuss and draft amendments. In either case, amendments must have the approval of Bill of rights 人权法案
The first 10 amendments of the US Constitution which aims to safeguard the rights of its citizens
三．联邦政府
The Federal Government consists of three branches:
The executive branch, the legislative branch and the judicial branch
行政机构 The Executive Branch
a. ?成为总统的条件：
A of theUS
At least Has resided in the US for ?任期：a four-year presidential term
?总统选举：
constituencies
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??No Religious Preference: 7%
? 国硬币上写着 In God We Trust
?Differences between Protestantism and the Roman Catholicism:
The Protestants insisted that sinned, they should seek their forgiveness from God rather than from a priest speaking in God’s name. Every individual was solely responsible for his or her relationship with God. “priesthood of all believers”
?The Protestant Heritage
(4) Catholicism
J. F. Kennedy
(5) Judaism 犹太教
(6)The Frontier Heritage
1. Self-reliance and the Rugged Individualist
2. Inventiveness and the Can-do Spirit
3. Equality of Opportunity
(7)The Heritage of Abundance
from Producers to Consumers
七．Challenges to theU.S.in the 20th and 21st Centuries
Two world wars
The depression of the 1930s
Civil rights movement
Vietnam War
The terrorist attack on the World Trade Center
Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq
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